Watch this!

Last night we watched Elder Bednar's CES fireside, and I thought it was really, really good. You can get the link to it here. What I got out of his talk was that we need to focus less on media-oriented life and more on things that are real. He talked particularly about people who are addiced to online gaming and social networking. While I don't really consider myself an "addict," I do spend more time on the computer than I should, so I appreciated his comments. Check it out! You may receive inspiration on areas you can improve in your life, so you can get the most out of your short time on earth. :-)

Graduation!

We have officially graduated from college. Well, I have. Peter applied for graduation in August, so he'll graduate then. All of our family came out for the occasion. I think Peter's family was a little annoyed that he wasn't in any of the programs, but oh well. They got to see him walk across the stage, which was fun for them I hope. I originally didn't want to walk, but I actually enjoyed it a lot. So thanks to Peter for making me do it. :-) Thanks also to all of our family who came out to support us, it was wonderful to see you!

As usual, the pictures are on Peter's computer and I am not. So here are copies of pictures my sisters have put on facebook. Enjoy!

My sister Rebecca, me, and our cousin Linnea.



My sister Anna in my cap.

Peter, me, and our (my) family. In case you're wondering,

the medal around my neck is for my honors graduation.

Peter has a gold tassle because he is getting a BS,

and I have a white tassle for my BA.

While my family was here, we got family pictures taken.

This one is by far my favorite, can you guess why?

Nearly Done

The month has been crazy so far, but we are almost done for good! I had my last final today. All that is left is for me to give a presentation tomorrow. I still have a lot of work to do before my museum exhibition opens Tuesday night, but it's pretty much on track. (If you received a card or an email from the Museum of Peoples and Cultures, inviting you to an exhibition opening, it's from me. Please come.) Peter has one more final tonight, and one on Tuesday, and then he will be done.

Our families are coming in on Wednesday for our graduation, and I am really excited to see them.

A baby shower

I had every intention of taking lots of pictures of my best friend's baby shower, but... I forgot.

So I will just tell you about it instead.

My friend Lauren and I decided we should throw a baby shower for Amy--all three of us were roommates freshman year. It ended up being a lot of fun! Almost everybody who was invited came, and there were lots of good presents and yummy food.

We played two games at this baby shower, and I'm passing them along in case somebody else wants to use them. For the first game, we shoved infant diapers into a clear plastic container and made everybody guess how many were inside. For the second game, we passed around yarn and scissors and everybody had to cut a length of yarn that they thought would fit around Amy's stomach. Then, Amy measured them around herself to see who was the closest. Almost everybody cut the yarn way, way too big, and it was funny to see. The same girl ended up winning both games, which I thought was amazing. I guess she's really good at sizing things.

For dinner, Lauren made homemade pizza. It was delicious, easy, and really quick to make. Try it out. :-)


Lauren's Famous Pizza

Dough (makes 2 pizzas)
1½ cups warm water
¾ tablespoon dry yeast (1 ¼-ounce package)
1 teaspoon sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus additional as needed
Stir together water, yeast, and sugar. Let the mixture rest until the yeast blooms, 3 to 4 minutes.
Place 3 cups flour and the salt in a mixing bowl. Add the yeast mixture and oil, and stir together to form a sticky dough. If using a mixer, use the dough hook after this point. Otherwise, knead in 1 more cup flour until the dough becomes a smooth, elastic ball, approximately 5 to 8 minutes. Add a little more flour so that the dough comes away from the side of the bowl. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a cloth, and let rise for 30 minutes in a draft-free spot before splitting and rolling into shape.
Note: this dough does not require a ton of kneading. However, the more you knead it, the crust will become stronger and chewier.
After making the sauce, preheat the oven to 500 degrees. If you have a pizza stone and paddle, preheat the stone in the oven (if using just a pizza stone, it will take longer to cook each time the stone cools down so it’s better to leave it in the oven). Each pizza takes 8-12minutes to cook.

Sauce (makes enough for 2-4 pizzas. I usually use a 24 oz jar of pasta sauce and a 6 oz can of tomato paste and add heaping amounts of the other ingredients and it will make enough for 4 pizzas)
1¾ cup tomato sauce or 1-15 oz can (1 prefer to use pasta sauce—better flavor)
½ cup (4 oz) tomato paste
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
Combine ingredients in a blender til smooth. I normally have to add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil because it is too thick.

Toppings
Basic (for most pizzas)-1 cup of shredded fresh mozzarella (the kind that is floating in the liquid tastes best), ½-1 cup parmesan (adds the special flavor), oregano and basil (fresh basil is best) to sprinkle over pizza last (use almost a tablespoon of each)
Other ideas:
Margherita-just mozzarella, sauce, fresh basil. I like to add fresh, sliced tomatoes and a little parmesan
Quattro Formaggi (4 cheese)-you can buy a great shredded cheese assortment at Trader Joe’s, or you can buy
your own assortment. My favorite mix: mozzarella, asiago, fontina, parmesan
Pepperoni-a classic, for picky eaters. Fun fact—if you order this in Italy you will get peppers on your pizza
Prosciutto-use 2-3 oz of this special, cured Italian ham. My personal favorite. Tear the ham into strips (like 2 in
by 1 in) and place on top with basic toppings. Also can add things like mushrooms, or carmelized
onion/roasted garlic/gorgonzola
Artichoke-put artichoke hearts on with basic and chicken if you wish
Barbecue chicken-not very Italian but still good! Use a thin layer of your favorite BBQ sauce instead of tomato,
mozzarella, and strips of grilled chicken
Alfredo chicken-use alfredo sauce instead of red sauce, mozzarella, and grilled chicken strips. I still like to
sprinkle basil and oregano on top

A long time.

I had no idea it had been so long since I updated my blog. I check other people's blogs nearly every day, but I have been neglecting my own. Sorry if you've been disappointed. :-)

Peter is gone, again. In February he went to California twice for work, and this weekend he's in Boston. I don't mind him being gone as much as I used to, but I still don't like it very much. Fortunately, I have something to keep me occupied both evenings this weekend. Friday night I am working at a mystery dinner at the museum, and Saturday night I have stake conference. I think I will enjoy both very much.

Other news- our living room is FINALLY finally clean. It feels like a home, not a storage room/junk collection. We cleared out lots of Peter's dad's stuff, moved the TV upstairs, and installed our projector and screen. And hung up lots of our pictures that had been sitting in our office. It's really nice to be in now, and I enjoy it.

I can't think of anything else to write. Life is good, busy, and I can't wait to be done with school!

I passed my defense!

Yesterday was my honors thesis defense. It went really well. I was nervous going into it, but I didn't need to be. The questions that were asked were fair and I got really good feedback on how to improve my thesis before it is published.

Since you may be wondering, this is what my thesis is about:

In 2006, the Reidhead family donated a collection of over a thousand Southwestern whole ceramic pots, hundreds of arrowheads, shell jewelry, etc. to the museum where I work. They had collected all of these artifacts over a period of about 20 years. They excavated most of the artifacts in their collection themselves at archaeological sites near their home. I went to visit them in Arizona last summer and interviewed some of them about where they found the objects in the collection and what they did with them from the time they dug them up until they donated them to the museum.

It's a really interesting story. I think it will be published electronically as well, and I will post the link here when it is so that anybody who wants to read it can.

I submit my final, final draft for publication next week. I am really excited to be almost done, and really excited to be graduating with honors!

Too busy.

I am very stressed. Next week I have an orchestra concert, a midterm, my honors thesis defense, and 16 writing conferences with my students. I am tired of thinking about all of them, and so I am taking a break. Actually, I've been taking a lot of breaks. Maybe what I am really doing is procrastinating...

Here are some pictures I promised to post a long time ago, but never did. Enjoy.

The Palmyra temple at my mother-in-law's wedding in August.

Us at the Oregon Coast.

My cousin, his son Nate, and my aunt. It was Nate's birthday.

Zack really liked his brother's birthday cake.
Mmm, mmm.
My dad, my sister, my cousin, my uncle. They had a joint baptism in August.